Plot: When U.S. Marine fighter pilot Col. John Sykes (Cyril O’Reilly) and his men are accused of slaughtering civilians during a drug raid and sentenced to hard time, the disgraced crew members decide to take matters into their own hands. After breaking free, they seize control of a commercial flight. In exchange for the plane, they demand $100 million in ransom. Little do they know the government has sent in a premier counterterrorist team led by Matt Marshall (Ice-T) to foil their escape plans.
Air Rage is a movie I didn’t know existed until recently when I picked up the VHS at the Vinegar Syndrome store in Toronto for a whopping $4… I feel like I maybe paid too much for it.
It starts off interestingly enough with Cyril O’Reilly playing a disgraced Colonel called John Sykes; he is charged with murder after killing people in a village and his men are also prosecuted. He thinks he did the right thing and we do see his point of view… at least for a short period. He is sentenced to life in prison, but his men break him out and they take over a plane filled with passengers who become hostages. It doesn’t take long for us to realize Sykes is unhinged and not someone to sympathize with.
If you’ve seen Executive Decision with Kurt Russell and Halle Berry then you’ve pretty much seen this as it’s practically the same movie with Ice-T playing Matt Marshall, a more aggressive version of Kurt Russell’s character. He really is a bit of a sexist dick towards Stewardess Kelly (Kimberly Oja) who is the real hero of this tale; Ice-T doesn’t even show up until half way through the movie. He gets shot in the leg after a few minutes so he then takes on the Joe Morton role of giving Kelly directions on what to do to try and rescue the hostages on the plane.
There is nothing we haven’t seen before in this movie with some hilariously one note characters, especially the douche with the cellphone who I would love to say doesn’t come across as real person, but you’d be amazed at the behaviour of some people on planes. Ice-T himself isn’t given much to work with and there isn’t anything especially memorable about the action. The final fight between Ice-T and O’Reilly isn’t bad, but then we get the cliché of Kelly having to land the plane after the pilots get shot.
This came out a few months before 9/11, so it’s hard to watch it now knowing the reality; still, I’ve seen worse movies and Kelly is an appealing character even if few others make an impact.
The biggest surprise was seeing Buck Rogers himself Gil Gerard as Victor Quinn; I barely recognized him, but it has been many years since that Television series.
Overall, Air Rage brings nothing new to the genre and Ice-T doesn’t even show up until half way though the movie. The villain starts off interesting, but quickly descends into generic bad guy tropes. I recommend just watching Executive Decision again, instead.